Intel Counting on Ultrabooks

Ultrabooks
are an extremely thin and light form factor designed to offer the productivity
and performance of traditional laptop with features found in tablets, including
long battery life, instant-on capabilities and, later this year, touch screens.
Analysts say Ultrabooks are a way to help Intel bolster a slowing PC market
while creating another avenue into the mobile computing space.
Otellini
said there already are 21 Ultrabooks on the market, and more than 100 designs will
be released over the next few months, most of them in time for the lucrative
back-to-school shopping season. Pricing has been a key issue in the initial
Ultrabooksmost carry price tags of more than $1,000but Otellini said the next
generation will offer more affordable, "mainstream" prices. He said
he is confident that Intel will reach its goal of having Ultrabooks account for
40 percent or more of all laptops sold by the end of the year.

Otellini
said a key to the success of Ultrabooks this year will be meshing them with the
upcoming release of Microsoft's Windows 8 operating systems, which will support
touch-screen technologies. The new OS also will support system-on-a-chip (SoC)
architectures like ARM's, which sees an opportunity not only to defend its
presence in smartphones and tablets, but also to move into low-power notebooks,
similar to Ultrabooks.
In
January, ARM CEO Warren East dismissed
Intel's mobile ambitions as "good enough" technology, telling
Reuters that while the larger chip maker may get some design wins, it doesn't
have the capabilities to take over the smartphone and tablet spaces.
"It's
inevitable Intel will get a few smartphone design wins," East said at the
time. "We regard Intel as a serious competitor. Are they ever going to be
the leaders in power efficiency? No, of course not. But they have a lot more to
offer."